rue

See also rué

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwō (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”), from Proto-Indo-European *krew-, *krow-, *krows- (“to push, fall, beat, break”). Cognate with Scots rew (“rue”), West Frisian rouw (“sadness”), Dutch rouw (“mourning, sadness”), German Reue (“repentance, regret, remorse, contrition”), Lithuanian krùšti (“to smash, crash, bruise”), Russian крушить (krushitʹ, “to destroy”).

Noun

rue (uncountable)

  1. (archaic or dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
  2. (archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.
Derived terms
Translations
Repentance, regret
Pity, compassion

Etymology 2

Old English hrēowan, perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (“to distress, grieve”)[1], from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch rouwen, German reuen.

Verb

rue (third-person singular simple present rues, present participle ruing or rueing, simple past and past participle rued)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
  3. (transitive) To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
    I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To feel compassion or pity.
    • Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
      Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
Usage notes

Most frequently used in the collocation “rue the day”.

Translations
to repent or regret a past action or event

Etymology 3

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia

Rue (plant)

From Anglo-Norman ruwe, Old French rue (> modern French rue), from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rute). Compare rude.

Noun

rue (plural rues)

  1. Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens, formerly used in medicines.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
      But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew, and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
    • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5, Ophelia:
      There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference.
Synonyms
  • garden rue
  • herb of grace
Translations
any of various perennial shrubs

References

  1. ^ “rue” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Anagrams

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French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Developed figuratively from Latin ruga (“wrinkle”).

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. street, road

Etymology 2

Latin ruta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rute).

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. rue (the plant):

Etymology 3

From ruer

Verb

rue

  1. first-person singular present indicative of ruer
  2. third-person singular present indicative of ruer
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of ruer
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of ruer
  5. second-person singular imperative of ruer
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Guernésiais

Etymology

Developed figuratively from Latin ruga (“wrinkle”).

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. road, street
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Jèrriais

Etymology

Developed figuratively from Latin ruga (“wrinkle”).

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. street
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Latin

Verb

rue

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of ruō
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Venetian

Noun

rue f

  1. Plural form of rua
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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 20:59